296

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

February 7, 191S.

MINING AND OTHER NOTES.

Dr. Frank Shufflebotham, M.A., M.D., Cantab., has been
elected Milroy lecturer to the Royal College of Physicians,
in London, for 1914. Dr. Shufflebotham is to lecture upon
“ The Hygienic Aspect of the Coalmining Industry." We
also learn that Dr. Shufflebotham has been invited to be the
joint secretary of the section on industrial diseases of the
International Congress which will be held in Paris in May,
Sir Thomas Oliver, M.D., of Newcastle-on-Tyne, being the
president of the section.

The South Hetton Colliery officials have just presented
a handsome cabinet of cutlery, a silver cruet, and a silver
cake-tray to Mr. Robert William Hack worth, who has for
40 years been connected with the company. The presenta-
tion also included a gold brooch for Mrs. Hackworth.

The officials, deputies and stonemen of Oakenshaw
Colliery have presented gifts to Mr. G. Nelson, manager of
Brancepeth Collieries, and to Mr. G. Wearmouth, under-
manager of Oakenshaw Colliery, in recognition of their
valuable services in preparing the deputies and stonemen
for their recent examination.

Mr. Robert Ormiston Lamb, of How Mill, Carlisle, who
was for over 50 years chairman of the Cramlington Collieries
Limited, Northumberland, left estate of the gross value of
£264,652, with net personalty .£212,640.

The Petrol Committee has issued a second report on its
enquiries into the supply and distribution of petrol and the
reasons for the high price of the spirit. The suggestion of
the use of alternative fuels appears to the Committee to be
one that could most easily be developed, and the most likely
to render real benefit to the consumer. Various suggestions
have been submitted for alternative fuels, and the most suit-
able under present engine conditions and most likely to be
possible of production to a comparative extent appears to
be benzol. Preliminary investigations in regard to the
supply and manufacture of benzol and its value as a fuel for
motor vehicles have been conducted by the Committee.

In reply to a question by Mr. Barnston relating to the
number of times railway companies had been challenged to
show before the Railway and Canal Commission the justifi-
cation of a rise of rates or withdrawal of facilities since the
Railway and Canal Traffic Act of 1894 became operative,
Mr. Robertson states that of the 27 cases actually heard by
the Railway and Canal Commission, 16 were decided in
favour of the railway companies and six against them, and
in five cases the judgment was partly for the companies and
partly for the complainants.

It is stated that a boring plant has been laid down in
the neighbourhood of Sturton Grange, near Wark worth,
Northumberland. The Shilbottle Colliery Company are
going to sink a new shaft there, and work the coalfield.

Messrs. John Davis and Son (Derby) Limited, of All
Saints Works, Derby, have been granted Letters Patent
by the U.S.A. Patent Office for their “ Davis-Biram”
anemometer.

A provisional programme submitted by Lord Derby to
the King for his and the Queen’s visit to Lancashire, and
approved by the King, has been issued. The King and
Queen, who will stay with Lord Derby at Knowsley, will
arrive in Lancashire on Monday, July 7, and will return to
London on Monday, July 14.

Mr. J. S. Bowman, B.Sc. (Lond.), A.R.C.Sc., lecturer in
physics and mechanical engineering at the Wigan Mining
School, has been appointed to the post of senior science
master at the Peterborough County Technical College. He
succeeds Mr. Barbour, who has been appointed to an
important position with the Nobel Explosives Company.

At Bardykes Colliery, on the 26th ult., a gas explosion
occurred, involving injury to four men engaged in repairing
work.

The council of the Sheffield University have appointed
Mr. F. E. Armstrong, M.Sc., M.Eng., A.M.Inst.C.E., to the
professorship of mining in the University, in succession to
Prof. Hardwick. Mr. Armstrong, who is 33 years of age,
was educated at Giggleswick Grammar School, and after-
wards at Liverpool University, where he gained honours in
engineering. He holds a colliery manager’s certificate, and
is an expert in mining electricity. In 1901 he was articled
to Mr. Arnold Lupton, at Tinsley Park Colliery, Sheffield, as
mining assistant. Two years later he went to the Biddings
Collieries, Derbyshire. In 1904 he became assistant manager
at the Newdigate Colliery, Warwickshire, and in 1907 he
returned, as assistant manager, to Tinsley Park. Since 1910
he has been engineer to the Askern Coal and Iron Company
Doncaster. Mr. Armstrong has reported on properties in
Mexico, Vancouver, and Austrian Poland; and has visited
Belgium and Westphalia. He has had teaching experience
as temporary lecturer in mining at the University College,
Nottingham, 1910-11.

At Consett Police-court, on the 3rd inst., Mr. William
Severs, manager of Messrs. J. Joicey and Co.’s Beamish air
pit, was summoned on a charge of having kept 155 lb. of
carbonite in an unlicensed place on December 17. Defendant
admitted the offence. It was stated that in the pressure
of business, occasioned by recent legislation, Mr. Severs had
overlooked the fact that it was now illegal to store any
explosives except in an authorised place. The Bench, in
view of the fact that the defendant had immediately
adopted precautionary measures, ordered him to pay 15s.
costs only.

| Messrs. W. F. Stanley and Co. Limited inform us that,
owing to the continued expansion of their business they
have been compelled to provide much larger office accom-
modation, and they will now occupy the whole of the upper
part of the premises at 286, High Holborn, where their
showrooms have been on the ground floor for some time,
retaining their old premises at 4 and 5, Great Turnstile, for
export only.

The Mid-Kent Water Company and the East Kent
District Water Company are jointly promoting a Bill in the
next session of Parliament for the construction of new
works. These are to be jointly owned and used to meet the
increasing demand for water within their respective
districts and as a protection against the dangers arising
from the existing sources of supply being threatened “ by
the establishment of colliery undertakings and the sinking
of pit shafts within the limits of supply by the East Kent
Company.’’

It is announced that Col. Armstrong has retired from the
board of Messrs. William Beardmore and Co., and that
Col. Smith-Park has been appointed a director in his place.

Preparations are being made for the lighting of the new
furnace at Lowther Works, by the Workington Iron and
Steel Company. It is expected to be put into operation on
ferro-manganese, for which there is the briskest market
that has been experienced for years. The company have
already two furnaces on ferro-manganese, one on spiegel,
and eight on iron, ordinary mixed numbers of Bessemer,
for steelworks consumption, and special iron for high-class
steel manufacture. At the Derwent W orks of the combine,
also, another blast furnace is being prepared to be lighted.

Mr. J. P. Houfton, who is this year’s mayor of Mansfield,
speaking at a meeting the other day, declared that Mansfield
had a great future before it. They need not anticipate any
shortness in the supply of water for many years to come,
because in the course of the sinking of the new Ruff ord
Colliery with which he was connected they had gone through
strata in which they had come across a supply equal to
7 million gallons per day—a supply which had not been
tapped either at Rainworth or at Clipstone, where the town
obtained at present its supply. There was also an abundance
of coal—a tremendous source of power yet untouched in the
neighbourhood of Mansfield—and they might look forward
with confidence to the future increase of industries owing
to their facilities in coal and water.

Sheriff Umpherston heard proof recently in the Dunferm-
line Sheriff Court in an action at the instance of Thomas
Fitzpatrick, South Glencraig, against the Lochgelly Iron
and Coal Company. Fitzpatrick sued the company for
.£8 10s. 7d., being the balance of pay for a contract, which
the company refused to pay. The pursuer alleged that in
November 1911 he entered into a contract with the defenders
to drive an aircourse in the Nellie pit, Lochgelly. At the
end of the first fortnight the full fathomage was paid, but a
dispute arose in regard to the size of the aircourse, and the
defenders retained £8 10s. 7d. The defenders contended
that the aircourse ought to have been 9 ft. by about 5 ft.,
instead of 9 ft. by less than 4 ft., as it actually was. In
deciding the case in favour of the pursuer, the Sheriff said
he was of opinion that defenders’ oversman had made the
contract as the pursuer alleged, although he afterwards
discovered that he had probably conceded the pursuer
rather better terms than he ought. The Sheriff accordingly
granted decree, and found the defenders liable in expenses.

At a meeting of the directors of the Cramlington
Coal Company Limited, held in Newcastle-on-Tyne on
January 23, Sir Thomas Wrightson, Bart., was elected
chairman, and Mr. Everard J. Lamb, son of the late Mr.
R. 0. Lamb, was appointed managing director.

The Coppee Company (Great Britain) Limited has
recently secured the order for the erection of an up-to-date
coke oven installation for Messrs, the United National
Collieries Limited, Cardiff. The plant is to be put down at
the company’s Risca Colliery, Cross Keys, near Newport
Monmouthshire, and will comprise a washery on the well*
known Coppee principle to classify and wash 2,000 tons
of coal per day, 45 Coppee waste heat coke ovens, and by-
product plant for the recovery of tar, sulphate of ammonia
and benzol. A benzol rectifying plant is also included.
The washery will be constructed on the latest lines, and
will be built entirely of fireproof material. From the coke
bench the coke will be loaded into railway wagons by a
Coppee patent coke screening and loading machine, which
will be the first machine of this type to be put up in this
country. The whole plant is being laid out so as to permit of
considerable extension in the future. The colliery company
has been busily engaged for the last four or five weeks in
making the necessary excavations, for the installation and
building operations are to be commenced in April next.

At the meeting of the Notts Education Committee on
Tuesday a report showing the progress made in the mining
department of the University College during the past year
was referred to. A great deal of apparatus and equipment
has been purchased, and a considerable reorganisation has
been effected in the courses for mining students, particu-
larly in the Saturday afternoon mining course, which is
attended by students holding scholarships under the com-
mittee. Additional equipment is still urgently needed, and
an appeal for further assistance has been issued to the
colliery owners.

Mr. J. H. Vickery, assistant general manager of the
London and South-Western Railway, has been appointed
general manager of the Alexandra (Newport and South
Wales) Docks and Railway Company.

The late Mr. T. H. Bainbridge, Eshott Hall, Northumber-
land, director of the Consett Iron Company, Swan, Hunter
and Co., and other companies, left estate sworn at
.£412,310 19s. lOd. gross, with .£338,795 net personalty.

Mr. Gilbert Holden, manager of South Tanfield Colliery,
has been appointed manager of Twizell Colliery, one of
Messrs. Joicey’s Beamish group. Mr. Thomas Adamson,
under-manager at Tanfield Lea Colliery, has been appointed
manager of the East Tanfield and South Tanfield collieries.

The Edinburgh Collieries Company some three years ago
commenced the construction of a garden city by building
one-storey houses forming three sides of a hollow square,
having garden plots on the fronts, divided each by a neat
wooden rail. The hollow portion at the back, which even
now is indeterminate between “ yard ’’ ard “ green,’’ is
used pro-indiviso as a drying ground. Each house is of two
apartments (room and kitchen), with a back kitchen, with
boiler, &c., with the usual conveniences behind. Four of
the houses are of two storeys, with gabled fronts. Each
house and front plot and share of back green roughly
occupies l-10th acre. The two-storey houses are occupied
by the “ gaffer’’ class, and the better class of miner
occupying the cottages may be ascribed to environment.
The experiment being successful, there is ample space
between the first portion and the Preston links for two
other squares, but the problem of the back hollow portion,
“ green ’’ or “ yard,” still remains to be solved.

In the Appeal Court, on the 20th ult., before the Master
of the Rolls, Lords Justices Farwell and Hamilton, the case
of Williams Bros. v. E. T. Agius Limited, of Cardiff and
elsewhere, came on under an application from an order from
Mr. Justice Bailhache. Mr. Harvey stated that the matter
came before his lordship below on a special case stated by
an arbitration umpire, who gave judgment in favour of the
plaintiffs. Defendants, who wanted to appeal, entered into
a contract for the sale of coal at 16s. 3d. per ton to the
plaintiffs, who also entered into a contract for the same coal
at 19s. per ton. Defendants finding they were unable to
deliver the contract, in order to reduce the damages, agreed
to buy the coal from the purchaser at 20s. per ton. The
market price of the coal at the time of the alleged breach of
the contract was 23s. 6d. a ton. Plaintiffs therefore sued
the defendants for damages for non-delivery. It was
alleged there had been no breach, but the plaintiffs said
they were entitled to recover the full difference between the
contract price and the market price from the defendants,
and Mr. Justice Bailhache held that that was the case.
Their lordships dismissed the application, with costs.

Mr. W. J. A. Butterfield lectured before the members of
the Institute of Chemistry at University College recently
on “ Chemistry in Gasworks.” Referring to the growth in
the gas industry, he said the world’s production of town
gas in 1912 was about 620,000 million cubic feet, to manu-
facture which 60 million tons of coal had to be consumed,
while 30 million tons of gas coke, about 3 million tons of
tar, and the equivalent of 550,000 tons of sulphate of
ammonia would be produced. The estimated annual con-
sumption of gas per head of the population in the world’s
chief capital cities showed that London still headed the list
with over 8,000 cubic feet, as compared with about 6,000
cubic feet for Amsterdam, Berlin, New York, and Paris.

The statement of accounts of the Great Western Colliery
Accident Relief Fund for the year ending December 31,1912,
has just been published. In the accident, which occurred
on April 11, 1893, 63 men and boys were killed, leaving 23
widows and 42 orphans. The relief to widows during
the year amounted to £182, and grants to dependants £48.
A sum of £3 10s. was also granted to the widows as Christ-
mas gifts, making a total of £233 10s. The working
expenses came to £25 Ils. lid., and the amount now
standing to the credit of the fund is £2,541 3s. lid. There
are now seven widows on the fund, who each received 10s.
per week. All the orphans have now attained the age of
13, and are not entitled to further relief. The total relief
paid up to date, including grants on re-marriage, and
grants to aged dependants is £9,355 2s. 4d.

In submitting the toast of “ The Ashington Coal
Company ” at the annual dinner of kthe Ashington colliery
officials held at the Portland Hotel, Ashington, recently,
Dr. T. Baird Trotter referred in terms of high praise
to the excellent spirit of co-operation which existed between
the management and the men, and commended the way in
which the owners helped the men in more directions than
one. Mr. F. L. Booth, manager of the collieries, in
responding, said that for the first time in their history
there were no black shadows looming over the coal trade,
and they could look forward to a prosperous time. For the
first time in his life there was work enough for every able-
bodied man in England. Despite the coal strike last year
they had an output of over two millions tons, which was a
record, and the wages of every man and boy in their
employ worked out at 31s. per head per week. That
included all the boys and made no allowance for lost time.
They had been able to settle all their differences under the
Minimum Wage Act without a single appeal to the inde-
pendent umpire—a fact which, he thought, was creditable